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New FEMA Chief Earned the Nickname "The Terminator"; JFK's Granddaughter Announces Terminal Cancer Diagnosis; IDF Says it Killed Hezbollah Chief of Staff in Beirut; Mamdani Believes Trump is a Fascist. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 24, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- Kristi Noem. If you remember back to that point, Noem and her team were really pushing this narrative that FEMA is bloated and it's partisan and it may need to be eliminated altogether, but certainly at least overhauled dramatically.

A big part of that was going to be reining in spending. Karen Evans was a huge piece of that effort. She became the final gatekeeper. If you wanted money to get out of the door, and we are talking about billions of dollars in funding from FEMA, it had to go through Karen Evans before it went through Kristi Noem. And it caused this major backup that still exists today where states were complaining they didn't know where their money was. A lot of that money still has not gotten out the door.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Just to follow up, I know we covered the Texas flooding at length. I mean, was she involved? Because you had reported then that the money wasn't getting out the door quickly enough.

COHEN: Well, and that is the exact policy that she was really tasked with enforcing. So, yes, she was part of pieces of that. But yes, it all connects back to this policy at DHS where Kristi Noem said, if it costs more than $100,000, I have to approve it directly. When it came to FEMA, any money over $100,000, first it went through Karen Evans.

So, exactly as you say, yes, she was right at the center of those conversations. And it has created a lot of friction with staff, with senior leaders at FEMA who say, we can't operate this way. But she's been very successful for what DHS wanted, which is reining in operations, reining in wasteful spending at FEMA.

BROWN: All right. Gabe Cohen, thank you so much. Great reporting.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Gabe, thanks for me as well. The granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy says she has terminal cancer. Tatiana Schlossberg revealed her diagnosis in a very deeply personal essay for The New Yorker magazine. In it, the 35-year-old talks about how doctors first noticed an abnormality in her white blood cell count after giving birth to her daughter back in May of 2024. Testing later revealed it to be a rare mutation of leukemia called Inversion 3. She also spoke about her cousin, the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the devastating impact she thinks his anti-vaccine stances could have on patients like her. And she wrote this, and I'm quoting her now, "As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers, striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly half a billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers. Hundreds of NIH grants and clinical trials were canceled, affecting thousands of patients. I worried about funding for leukemia and bone marrow research at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I worried about the trials that were my only shot at remission."

And now, after a year of very different treatments, including chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, Tatiana has been told by doctors that she has, right now, one year left to live.

BROWN: I read that essay over the weekend, and my heart broke for her. She's so young.

BLITZER: I recommend that people read that New Yorker essay. It is so moving.

BROWN: Yes. And she talks about RFK Jr. and how some of the policies personally impacted her and her family, and it's just heartbreaking to think she has two young kids and a baby, who she says will likely never know who she is. So, heartbreaking.

All right. Just ahead here in the Situation Room, Israel launches strikes in Lebanon's capital city for the first time in months. So, why now? We'll discuss next.

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[10:35:00]

BLITZER: Now, to the Middle East where Israel's military says it has killed Hezbollah's second-in-command in Lebanon with an airstrike in Beirut. It's the first time Israel has attacked the city in months. Lebanese health officials say the strikes killed at least five people and wounded more than two dozen others.

Let's begin the conversation right now with CNN's senior global affairs analyst, Bianna Golodryga. She's also the co-author of a brand-new, very important book entitled "Don't Feed the Lion" that looks at how young people are dealing with anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice.

Bianna, I want to get to the book in a moment, but let's begin with this latest Israeli strike in Lebanon. Why do you think Israel would go after Hezbollah's leadership now?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND AUTHOR, "DON'T FEED THE LION": Well, Wolf, it's good to be with you. Israel says that Ali Tabtabai wasn't just a Hezbollah commander, that, as you noted, he was the de facto chief of staff. This is a man who's been sanctioned by the United States, in fact has a bounty on his head and had been affiliated with the previous leadership of Hezbollah, all of which had been killed last year by Israel before that fragile 2024 November ceasefire was struck.

So, Israel is accusing Hezbollah of trying to reconstitute itself and putting the blame squarely on Tabtabai for trying to rebuild their military forces there. That, for Israel, they say, is a red line. Of course, Hezbollah is now responding by saying that this assassination was a red line for them, though they haven't struck back quite yet. And the question is what this means for this fragile ceasefire. Both sides have accused each other of being in violation for months now.

This was the most brazen strike by Israel, obviously targeting Beirut, where you noted there have been casualties. I can't imagine Israel doing this without giving the United States a heads-up, so it's a question of what the United States now says. I don't think we've heard from them yet specifically as to what the next steps will be.

BLITZER: Yes, we haven't. With Israel's military at the same time withdrawing, at least from parts of Gaza, will they turn more of their resources towards Hezbollah once again in Lebanon?

[10:40:00]

GOLODRYGA: Well, that's a good question, Wolf, and I'm not sure what the calculus is here because, as noted, Hezbollah has said that this was a red line that they had crossed, but they remember that significant blow received last year that they still haven't been able to recover from and know that if they strike back in retaliation to Israel, that Israel's next strike could be even more fierce.

And again, if the United States is supporting it, then they will be boxing themselves into a position that only weakens the current government that is newly installed and quite fragile in Lebanon as well. There had been hopes that the two sides could work together, Lebanon accusing Israel of these violations here and these strikes, but the question is how? How, if at all, Hezbollah will respond?

BLITZER: Let me get to your book, Biana. It's entitled "Don't Feed the Lion." I'm holding it up right now. And it's designed not just for parents but for kids as well. Tell us a little bit of why you decided to write this important book now.

GOLODRYGA: Well, as you discussed in a previous segment with the congresswoman, the scourge of anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head once again at level highs we haven't seen in years, and it's coming from all sides. And even prior to the attacks of October 7th and the subsequent war when we'd seen a real spike in anti-Semitism.

I was facing questions from my own kids. This book is for middle-grade readers and up, but as you said, for parents, for teachers, for everyone, because when my child came to me and said, why is there so much anti-Semitism? Why are celebrities specifically going on social media and speaking negatively about Jews and posting anti-Semitic posts and tropes? Why do they hate us? Can I not go to their basketball games? Can I not listen to their music? And I had no good answer.

So, when I went to go look for resources and speak to schools about what resources they're offering on anti-Semitism for kids, I was shocked to see that for this very, very important and impressionable age group, Wolf, anywhere from the age of 9 to 15, there were no good resources. So, I decided to write the book along with my colleague Yonit Levy and co-author, who's an Israeli journalist, after the strikes of October 7th and after the attacks then, but the seed had been planted for the need for this book much long -- much earlier.

BLITZER: Yes, I've gone through the book, and it really is very, very powerful, and it's important that not just the parents read it, but these kids read it as well. It's not easy reading, but it's really important, and it will help them. What inspired the title, "Don't Feed the Lion"?

GOLODRYGA: "Don't Feed the Lion" is a title that's based on some aphorisms and words of wisdom that one of our beloved characters, a grandfather in this book, offers to those around him and his family, anyone that will really listen, and it basically means don't feed into your fears. Address them. Address them head on. Don't try to ignore them. Don't try to adjust to whatever you think society wants you to be doing. Address these fears. Attack them. And you will see how empowering that will be. And so, that was our way of approaching the need to speak out and tackle anti-Semitism. As you said, this book is for kids, adults. It's for Jewish students, and it's for non-Jewish readers as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, thanks so much for writing it. Bianna Golodryga, Thank you so much. Thanks to your co-author, Yonit Levi, as well. "Don't Feed the Lion," I recommend it very, very highly. And we'll be right back.

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[10:45:00]

BROWN: Doubling down, New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani clarifies his position about whether he thinks President Trump is a fascist. Here's what he told NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to be very clear, do you think that President Trump is a fascist?

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY), MAYOR-ELECT: And after President Trump said that, I said yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you do?

MAMDANI: And that's something that I've said in the past. I say it today. And I think what I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement about the politics that has brought us to this moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now to discuss is CNN Political Director and Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian. All right. So, President Trump and Mamdani had this sort of chummy banter in the White House. Then Mamdani turned around and sort of doubled down, if you will, on calling Trump a fascist. What did you make of that?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, first of all, he did so with the permission of the president. Because you remember in the chummy moment in the Oval Office, Mamdani was asked very specifically --

BROWN: And Trump --

CHALIAN: And Trump said, you can just say yes. Don't bother with the explanation. It's fine. I don't mind. And Mamdani was like, OK. So, I don't even know what was doubling down. It's not like in the Oval Office he had walked back from it. And Trump actually -- in this unbelievably magnanimous way, was just sort of like, I'm not worried about the rhetoric you're throwing my way.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting because I didn't hear Trump saying that he still believes that Mamdani is a communist.

CHALIAN: In fact, he was asked if Mamdani -- if he considers Mamdani a jihadist, which is what Elise Stefanik, who's running for governor of New York next year as a Republican, has been calling him. And Trump said he does not believe that. And Stefanik, one of Trump's closest allies on Capitol Hill, had to come out and say, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, Mr. President.

BROWN: OK. So, let's zoom out a little bit, though, because Republicans were likely planning to use Mamdani as their boogeyman heading into the midterms. So, what does this do for that?

CHALIAN: Yes, I don't think that's going to go away. But I think Donald Trump complicated it for a moment, because you can imagine now any Democrat who's going to face that attack can point to Trump saying, hey, I think I would live in Mamdani's New York. No, I don't think he's a jihadist.

[10:50:00]

So, they have some fuel now to respond to, but I don't think that they're going to all of a sudden upend their messaging. They are going to run hard that the Democratic Party has become far too left and use Mamdani as an avatar of that to make their case to the American people of why they should stay in power next year.

BROWN: All right. so let's talk about Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her announcement that surprised, I think, a lot of us on Friday night that she will resign in January. Do you see this as an example of the power Trump has and the grip he has on the party because, as we know, he criticized her, attacked her, or do you see it as the beginning of a trend of more Republicans not liking the direction the GOP is going in and leaving Congress? CHALIAN: I mean, I think both things can be true at the same time. I mean, I do -- clearly, Trump said, I un-endorse you and was going to start a primary campaign against her. She cited that as one of the reasons why she was going to resign. So, clearly his power, his sway inside especially a Republican primary context is still very real. That's not going away. That's why I think it's a little premature to be like, oh, Donald Trump is a pure lame duck and doesn't matter anymore.

He's mattered for 10 years on the national political stage. He's president of the United States. He still will matter very much. But I do think that Marjorie Taylor Greene is not alone in raising some concerns about whether, obviously, the Epstein files situation was a huge catalyst for this slight rupture that we're seeing. But she also made the argument on affordability, that she didn't think the president's focus was on the economy and affordability as much as it should be, that perhaps he's too focused on foreign affairs at times. She has made the argument on the health care subsidies that now, by the way, Donald Trump is talking about perhaps rolling out a policy to extend them. So, she keeps centering.

And then yesterday, in her -- you know, days after she announced her resignation, said there is a political industrial complex that has to be fought against. And she means that on both sides, both Republican and Democrats. And you could see the framework of an argument where she thinks she's more in touch with the average American on this stuff than maybe the elites in Washington are.

BLITZER: Given the very tight margins right now in the House of Representatives, David, as you well know, how much of a problem does her resignation cause potentially for Republicans?

CHALIAN: Well, just in the immediate math, Wolf, as you know, because the margins are so narrow, Speaker Johnson, if he is to lose a Republican in January from his count, he'll have one fewer vote to count on while it's a vacant race. Now, there's going to be a special election. It's an unbelievably Republican district. I don't think at the end of the day this is going to alter the balance of the current Congress. But it does in the immediate, for those months where there's a vacancy, make Mike Johnson's math that much more difficult.

BLITZER: Certainly does. All right. David Chalian, as usual.

BROWN: Nice to have you in the Situation Room.

CHALIAN: Thanks, guys.

BLITZER: Always good to have him in the Situation Room. Coming up, the Cowboys clip the Eagles' wings with a major comeback. CNN Sports anchor Coy Wire is here. Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: The Cowboys now 5-5-1. They rally to match their greatest comeback in franchise history. Dak Prescott becomes their all-time leading passer, all against the defending Super Bowl champs. We have the highlights coming up for you next.

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[10:55:00]

BLITZER: The Dallas Cowboys rally late to beat the defending Super Bowl champions, and it all came down to a field goal kick as time expired.

BROWN: CNN Sports Anchor Coy Wire adjoins us now. Coy, the Cowboys were down by three touchdowns at one point.

WIRE: Incredible. This is a microcosm of the entire league this season. Teams that we thought were going to be dominant or not. Teams we thought were a house of cards headed into a windstorm, are finding ways to weather it. The Cowboys were down 21 to nothing, but they started chipping away first. Dak Prescott finds George Pickett. Touchdown. He finished with 146 yards and that score Dak rolling out fine Spann Ford, 354 yards passing. Dak is the Cowboy's all-time leading passer now. But this one place sums up the comeback, you get knocked down, you get bullied, but you get back up and keep chasing the goal.

Alijah Clark rafted rookie incorrigible effort teaching tape. You can show any kid. He forces the fumble. Long Snapper Trent Sieg recovers it. Both of those efforts vital to the team winning. Cowboys Score 24 unanswered to beat the Eagles, 24 21, tying their franchise record for largest comeback ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAK PRESCOTT, DALLAS COWBOYS QB: We've only been hurting ourselves. We know what we're capable of doing. Come out, stay focused, stick together, and we can win this thing. Nobody blinked, everybody believed it, and we got it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Let's go to an overtime thriller. Colts and Chiefs with Mahomes looking to avoid the first three game losing streak of his career. He started with an interception on his first drive that led to a Colts' touchdown. The Chiefs were down by 11 to start the fourth quarter, but they tie it up, send it to overtime, and here comes Mahomes. He finds Xavier Worthy for a big game up there, the numbers. And then he hits Rashee Rice who had 141 yards receiving, getting them well within field goal range. Harrison Butker, come on out, big dog. Kick that game winner.

Chiefs win 23 to 20. First time this season, they finally come out on top and get a win in a one score game, keeping their playoff hopes alive. Mahomes said after the game that they needed this win to give them some momentum for the rest of the season. Next up for them, are those Cowboys, a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.

[11:00:00]